Pipe Dream
by Valeria Aurelia
Summary: Dean wakes up in a hospital and is told he has been in a coma after a terrible car accident. Everything seems normal, that is, until he has a little chat with Sam, who demands they were never hunters. Now, Dean struggles with trying to figure out what is reality or an illusion, and whether or not he likes this new, perfect life better than his old, difficult one.
1. Ten Year Coma

_Hello, Supernatural fandom! I am so excited to publish this! This is my first Supernatural fanfic, though I've done some for another fandom. If you are a reader from my One Piece fanfictions, you can go to my profile page to figure out why I'm doing this and what happened._

 _In the mean time, I don't want to hold this up too long, I hope y'all like this! I worked hard on it!_

 _Disclaimer:_ _I do not own any of the characters or, at least, background plot. All rights go to Eric Kripke and the other writers of the Supernatural show._

* * *

Blinding light practically stabbed Dean in the eyes. An annoying buzzing noise vibrated through his head as the painfully bright rays scorched him. The next sensation he felt was a bed underneath him, but it was much too hard to be from his mattress in the bunker.

'Am I in a motel?' He thought to himself, but he had no memory what-so-ever of going off on a hunt. In fact, he couldn't exactly tell which memory he had was the closest to the present. Yes, it's true that the memory of him luring Sam away from college was before they released Lucifer, logically speaking, but now, as he was readjusting himself, all of his memories seemed like they all strangely happened at once, or… at least in a couple of short months… It was, truly, the strangest feeling Dean had ever experienced.

The world seemed like it was suspended in a reality that existed of just blinding light and throbbing pain until Dean suddenly heard voices. Strange voices, like they were speaking to him while he was underwater.

After a while he could finally understand them, though they still sounded a bit strange. _"Mr. Winchester…? Mr. Winchester…!"_

" _He's conscious! He's regained consciousness!"_

" _Quick! Go get the doctor! Hurry!"_

" _Okay!"_

Far away, muffled footsteps could be heard. Dean couldn't take it anymore, he needed to see what was going on. So, with great effort, he pried his eyelids open. At first, the throbbing, buzzing noises increased and his head felt like it was about to explode, but Dean kept his eyes open out of determination.

Suddenly, the blinding, white light turned into shapes. And after a while, he saw a young woman's face hovering in front of him. _"Sir?"_ Where was that voice coming from? _"Sir?"_

Was that her?

"Sir?" Dean could now see her almost completely and could tell she was definitely talking to him. "Can you hear me?"

Dean just stared at her for a moment, not knowing what to do or what to say. After what seemed like forever, he finally muttered, "Wheh…s m..ah brah…der?" 'Damn, Dean… You sound _terrible_ …' he cursed to himself, 'That probably didn't make any sense _at all_ to her.'

"Oh, no, sir," The young woman said. "Don't try to speak, okay? You've been asleep for a very long time, don't try to strain yourself." She then took his hand in hers and continued. "How 'bout this, I'll answer whatever questions you have once the doctor comes and checks on you, okay?"

Dean squeezed the woman's hand as he tried again, "S… ammy… Whe-re… is m-y… brah… bro-ther…?"

"No, Mr. Winchester, don't speak! I can't afford you to strain yourself until we can see what your condition is!" the woman pleaded.

"Sa…mmy… Where's… Sam…?" He asked again, this time more persistent.

The woman just stared at him for a while, until sighing and saying, "He's fine, Mr. Winchester… He's just fine…"

Dean, satisfied with getting his answer, then smiled and loosened his grip on the woman's hand. "Tha…t's… good… Very… good…" He couldn't believe how extremely tired he felt. And once he realized that there were people suddenly swarming around him, he slipped back into unconsciousness.

* * *

After waking up again a little while later, Dean was questioned on his condition and how he was feeling. It felt like an endless interview that he definitely wasn't prepared for. He then was brought into a room where a series of different tests were performed on him. After that, a nurse brought him back to his hospital room where the hunter was changed into more comfortable clothes and was left alone and confused.

About an hour and a half later, a young nurse came into the room and sat in the chair next to him as she started to talk to him sweetly. "Hey, Mr. Winchester, how are you?"

Dean hesitated for a moment as he took in her blue scrubs with dark, short hair. "Good, good… Um… it's Dean… I'd rather to be called 'Dean' than Mr.-"

"Oh, I'm sorry…!" The nurse apologized quickly, leaving them in an awkward silence.

"Were you that… woman beside my bed when I woke up?" Dean finally asked.

The nurse nodded, "Yes! I was!" She smiled, as if liking that Dean remembered her. "I'm Clara…"

The hunter nodded slowly, "Ah…! Nice to meet you, Clara."

Another awkward silence fell over them before Clara spoke up, "I said I was going to answer any questions you had."

"Oh, yes!"

"So, do you have any questions? I know that can be forgotten while you're in the complicated mess of waking up."

"Oh, yeah… Well, I guess, first question is, what happened to me? Why am I here?"

Clara looked surprised. "No one told you?"

"No, was I supposed to know?"

"Well, you at least were supposed to have been told," Clara answered. "You were in a car accident."

Dean's eyebrows furrowed. "I was what!?" A sudden jolt passed through him of worry for his brother. What could have happened to him? If he had gotten hurt, wouldn't that mean that Sammy got hurt as well? A small part of him wondered if his Baby was all right, but most of his worries were centered on his brother's well-being.

"Yeah, pretty bad one, too." Clara continued, "Drunk driver, not your fault in my opinion. A truck rammed right into the back of your car, you hit your head on the steering wheel and got such a nasty concussion that put you into a coma."

"A coma? So that's what you meant by me being asleep…! Wait… what did you mean by a long time, though?" Dean asked.

"Dean," Clara paused. "You've been in a coma for ten months."

A tense, deafening silence suddenly flooded the room. "T-Ten _months_ …?"

All Clara did was nod. Dean put a hand on his forehead as he let it settle in his mind. "And Sammy, my brother, he's okay?"

"Yeah, he's okay. We're contacting him now, telling him you woke up."

"And my Baby?" Dean asked, looking at the nurse again.

"Your… baby? Like… your son?" The nurse tried to clarify.

"What? No, my car!"

"Oh…!" Clara paused before chuckling. "Yeah, your brother made sure it was fixed. He would come here every day and talk to you, ya know. That's one of the things he would talk about: how he fixed your car and how he couldn't wait for you two to ride in it together again." The nurse smiled, like she thought the story was nice and sweet. "He would also talk about how he wanted, when you woke up, to drive around the country in that car with just you two and your friend, Cass… Just like you guys did when you were teenagers…" The young nurse sounded distant and longing, almost as if she wanted to do something like that too, or as if she wished she had done that as a teenag- Wait… what?

"Wait, what do you mean, just like we all did as _teenagers_? He was only talking about me and him, right? Not with my friend, Cass?" Dean asked, trying to clarify. It would be kind of understandable if it was just him and Sam, except for the fact that they never did that alone when they were teenagers. But with Cass, too? They didn't even know Cass, then!

"No… He was definitely talking about when you were around sixteen, you, your friend, and him, would do all of these silly adventures," Clara said, which made Dean freeze. "Like, he would talk about when you all would play this game where you would ring someone's doorbell, run, then see how they would respond. And how, once when you did that, an old man ran out of his house with a gun and chased you all into the woods where you hid there for three days."

Dean started to feel his heart pound and his breath quicken. "N-No, you must've misheard him…!"

Clara's eyebrows furrowed with confusion. "I don't think I would have misheard that entire, detailed story."

"Th-Then… you must have misheard the part about Cass being there…!" The hunter had no idea why he was so extremely scared, he knew that story wasn't true, but… Why would _Sam_ tell that story? If Sam had really said that, he must have gone insane after the car accident.

"No, he was _definitely_ talking about him. He was in almost every story your brother told." There was a long pause and all that could be heard in the room was Dean's nervous pantings. "Dean, are you alright?"

"None of those stories make sense, Clara," Dean finally answered. "Sam and I stayed cooped up in motel rooms our whole childhood as our dad went out hunting. And Cass, we hadn't even met the guy until I was in my thirties."

Clara's eyes widened and she seemed to be getting quite scared now. Then she said something that made Dean's heart stop, "Dean, you, and your friend, Cass, are childhood friends."

For a minute there, the hunter thought he might stop breathing. "Wh-What are you talking about!?"

"Dean, do you seriously not remember?" Clara's voice sounded _very_ afraid now as she stood to her feet.

"Remember? There's nothing to remember about that because it _didn't happen_!" Dean snapped.

With that, Clara ran out of the room screaming for Dean's doctor. And he was left in confusion, but mostly fear. He would have thought it was complete crazy-talk if the nurse hadn't said it came from Sam's mouth directly.

After a while, Clara ran back into the room with the doctor that had been helping him earlier. Dean sighed as he could tell what was coming next. They were going to ask him questions again, weren't they?

"Mr. Winchester, I've heard you're experiencing some memory gaps," the doctor said in an uncomfortably calm voice.

"Memory gaps!?" Dean repeated. "No, I remember everything _perfectly_!"

"Okay, okay. I just need you to answer a few questions for me, then," the doctor said.

"I'm not answering any more of your dumbass questions, ya son of a bitch!" Dean snapped. The doctor's face turned grim with a hint of frustration. "At least not until I can speak to my brother!"

"Sir, these questions are very important to your well-being. Now if I may-"

"No! Not until I see my brother!"

The man stood staring at him for quite a long time, until he sighed and said, "Very well. Your brother is already on his way. He wanted to see you immediately once he found out you were awake." The doctor then turned to Clara and whispered something in her ear before she ran out the door.

Dean swung his arms up as he said in exasperation, "Thank you!" And without another word, the doctor left him, once again, in lonely silence.

* * *

Around two hours later, though it felt like two-thousand years, Dean could hear someone running frantically down the hall. Suddenly, a very tall, brown-haired man burst into Dean's hospital room. He held a very concerned, but extremely relieved, expression.

"Sammy!" Dean exclaimed in happiness. It was strange, because he really did feel like he hadn't seen his beloved brother in months.

Sam's worried face shifted into that of complete and utter joy. The next thing Dean knew, Sam was holding him in a tight embrace.

"I was so scared I might have lost you…!" Sam whispered in his ear, which made Dean hold his brother tighter. After several minutes, Dean forced the hug to stop and Sam sat down in the chair at the bedside. "How ya doin'?"

The hunter ran his hand across his face as he shook his head and said, "I don't know. This morning's…been pretty damn stressful."

"Yeah…." Sam nodded. "Waking up after ten months of being in a coma _can_ be stressful."

"No, I mean…" Dean shook his head again as he stared at his brother. "The doctors here are…frickin' insane, Sammy."

Sam gave his brother a very confused look. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…" For some reason, Dean felt as if telling Sam about his problems would be a bad idea. But why would it? He probably was just being paranoid. "They think that we would go on adventures together as teenagers."

Sam's face became even more confused. "Yeeeaaah?"

"No, but we never did, like, pranks and stuff like that!" Dean tried to clarify.

Sam furrowed his eyebrows as he said, "You can call what we did back then whatever you want, but – in my opinion – other people would definitely have called them _pranks_."

"What?" Now it was Dean's turn to be confused. "But we never did things like running up to someone's doorbell, ring it, and run away! And we certainly were never chased into the woods where we hid for three days, well, at least not because we were pranking someone."

Sam's eyes widened as his voice held a bit of fear. "Dean… how could you forget all of the times we played Ring and Run? We played that _so much_!"

Dean's breath hitched. "Wh-What…?"

"Yeah…. Dean, are you okay?" Sam asked.

"S-Sam… what are you talking about?"

"What are _you_ talking about?"

Dean leaned forward in his bed. "Sam… we _are_ hunters, right?" Sam's eyes widened with fear, but Dean kept going. "We fight monsters, we have been almost all our lives."

"Dean… what in the hell are you talking about?" Sam asked, fear clear in his voice.

And that's when it hit Dean in the face, so hard he felt like Sam put a bunch of boulders in a bag and slapped him with it. Clara hadn't misheard Sam at all, he _had_ been telling those stories. Now the only question was, which one of them was crazy?

"Sam… We… You don't think we fight monsters, do you?" Dean tried to clarify, though he could tell he did _not_ want to know the answer to that.

"Dean… I don't _think_ we don't fight monsters, I _know_ we don't fight monsters," Sam finally explained firmly. The hunter felt himself slowly scooting away from his brother.

'This can't be happening…!' Dean thought to himself.

"Dean, you're a person who _fixes cars_ for a living… I'm a _lawyer_ …" Sam's voice held even more fear as he looked into his brother's green eyes. "Do you _seriously_ think that we fight _monsters_?"

Dean didn't respond.

"Dean, monsters _aren't real_!" Sam finally stood to his feet. "Oh my god…! You _do_ think that, don't you!?"

No response.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my _god_ …!" Sam muttered as he left the room.

For some reason, Dean actually _wanted_ for Sam to be the crazy one. He wanted to know that everything was how it was supposed to be, that even if Sam was crazy, there would be a way to fix it. He had _help_. And that everything was the same.

But then again, for some reason, he felt like Sam spoke the truth. That Sam was completely sane and _he_ was the crazy one. Nothing was the same. Nothing...


	2. It Was All Just a Dream

_Okay, so I'm going on vacation to explore what the ocean is like up close and just wanted to get this chapter out there before I go!_

 _I'd like to thank DearHart for the kind review and following the story! I'd also like to thank RushMaiden and dulcinea54 for following this as well! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I hope to get a lot more people on board with this story because I have quite a bit of confidence in it, but the again, you never know!_

 _Thank you again! And thank you for reading this chapter! ;D __I hope you enjoy!_

* * *

Dean had been left to sit in his own fear and misery. Either way, one of them was crazy. Which obviously screamed 'BAD NEWS', and when bad news came to the Winchesters, it was usually the _epitome_ of bad news.

An hour or so later, Sam appeared back in Dean's doorway with a bag over his shoulder. "What's happening?" Dean asked his brother.

Sam looked around before sighing and answering in an annoyed voice, "I'm… You can go home now."

The hunter stared at his little brother for a while before asking, "That's it? Sammy, I woke up from a ten month coma _this morning_ and I can already go home?"

Sam rolled his eyes, obviously not in the mood to be talking about that. "I don't know! Your doctor said you were – strangely – completely healthy and, even though they didn't like it, there seemed to be nothing more they could do for you. And they said they never like using up beds when it's not being used by someone who actually _needs_ it." The younger then threw the bag at Dean and continued, "In the meantime, there's some clothes in there. Meet me in the lobby when you're ready. It seems we have a lot to catch up on…" And without another word, Sam left his brother to change.

Inside the bag, Dean found a black t-shirt and green flannel with jeans. After putting them on, he left his room, wandered down the hall, and, somehow, found his way to the lobby. His brother was sitting in one of the chairs and, as Dean went up to him, Sam rose to his feet.

"So," Dean put his arms up slightly for a second before dropping them again. "What's the plan?"

Sam gave him an extremely annoyed face again before sighing and saying, "I was thinking…" He looked around. "That we could… get some lunch? Catch up… a bit?"

Dean stared at his brother for a while before nodding. "Alright!" The hunter then made his way out the door of the hospital.

"Oh, I, uh, brought your car, actually," Sam called from behind him just as Dean's eyes fell upon the beautiful, black Impala. Logically, to Dean, it felt like he had literally just seen it yesterday, but, strangely, it really did feel as if he hadn't driven it in months.

The man chuckled as he ran his hands along his car. "Oh, I missed ya, Baby…!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Dean could see Sam smile a little as he opened the door and jumped inside. The older of the two followed and before he knew it, he was driving down the road to a nearby diner with the help of his brother's directions.

* * *

After driving for about fifteen minutes, they found themselves sitting at a booth staring at each other, neither of them wanting to be the first one to start the conversation they knew they had to have.

But, after what seemed like forever, Dean finally spoke up, asking the question that had been killing him the most at the moment, "Why didn't you tell them?"

Sam furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Tell who what?"

"Well," Dean looked around, searching for a way to rephrase his question. "It's pretty obvious that you think I'm crazy."

"I don't-"

"Yes. Yes, you do," The hunter nodded. "I'm even having a hard time telling whether or not I'm crazy myself. But, the thing that's been bothering me the most, is the fact that you thought I was _insane_ and you told _no one_." Dean paused, letting his brother take in his words. "Why?"

Sam didn't answer for a while, just staring at the table as he nodded and moved his jaw around in frustration, until finally, with a cracky voice, he said, "You don't understand… what it was like to… to be at work, having a normal day, and then… you get a call saying that your brother was just in a _car accident_ … And not just a-an 'oops, I scratched your car' accident… Your car was _smashed_ …" He paused to take a breath. "You don't _understand_ what it was like for me to come to you, in the hospital, and sit by your bed for _hours…_ trying to keep hoping that you'd wake up one day when everyone else said you had _died_ the minute that car rammed into you…" Sam shifted in his seat, taking a breath before looking at his brother in the eyes. "You don't understand what it's like to get a call saying your dead brother is alive; and when you finally see him, he's still _gone_ …!"

Dean said nothing after that. What _could_ he say? That he was sorry? And if so, sorry for what? For not being there for his beloved brother? For scaring him? For getting hurt? He didn't even know if he really _had_ gotten hurt in the first place. How could he know if he was even sorry to begin with? The most logical thing to him, at the moment, was that none of this was real. That he was dreaming or something. But even if it was a dream, he was still staring at his little brother. His little brother who claimed to have thought that he was practically dead and was wondering if he still was. How could Dean _not_ feel bad?

"Sammy..." The hunter shifted in his seat. "You didn't lose me, okay?" Sam didn't look convinced. "I may think that we had a different past and we do different things for a living, but, at the end of the day, I'm still me! I still like my car, I still listen to the same crappy music, and we're _still_ brothers."

His brother just stared at him for a while, not saying anything, until he sighed and put on a weak smile. "Y-Yeah… I guess…"

Their waitress then came over, slightly ruining the mood, and asked for their order, where Sam ordered a salad and Dean ordered a burger. When the young woman left, the hunter continued with his list, "I still eat crappy food, too, don't I?" Sam nodded as his smile widened a little bit more.

"And I bet I would have thought that our waitress was pretty hot, right?" Dean asked as he intently watched the waitress leave, which he was answered with a nod. "Still do!"

Sam sighed. "Okay, okay. So you're still… _kinda_ the same."

"I _am_ the same." The hunter corrected as he pointed at his brother.

"No, you're not." Sam rolled his eyes. "You don't hunt monsters, Dean. Monsters don't exist!"

Dean nodded with a hint of annoyance in his eyes. "Yeah… Speaking of which, what, uh, what is it like here? I mean, what are our lives like, according to you?"

Sam opened his mouth to answer but closed it to think of what to say. "Well… I think it would be easier if I knew what _you_ think your life is like."

Dean nodded and suddenly he was telling his brother everything, from their mother being killed by Azazel to the Mark of Cain. And it was _truly_ the weirdest thing he ever had to do. To tell his brother, the person who was there and stuck by him through pretty much everything, what they had done _together_ , as a _team_. But now, Sam disagreed. They hadn't done any of that and everything he thought he knew was a lie. That everything he had experienced was all just a dream he had created for himself as he slept in a coma. It was all just a dream...

Sam nodded slowly once Dean was finished with his story. As if on cue, their food was placed in front of them. And once their waitress left, Sam said, "Wow… That was, uh, weird…"

"Yeah…" Dean muttered. It hurt him, actually. Sam was the one of the only people that made his job and _life_ worth it, and now he was saying all of that was weird and crazy. "So, what _really_ happened, then?"

"Well," Sam looked up at him. "Some of the things you said are kind of spin-offs of what really happened."

"What d'ya mean?"

"Like, mom's still dead." Dean practically deflated at that. "And, ironically, she _did_ still die in a house fire. The same time and day you said, too. And dad died in a car accident, but that happened when you were twelve and I was eight. After that, we then lived at our uncle's house, who happens to be Bobby." The hunter visibly brightened at this news.

"Bobby!? Bobby's here!?"

"Yeah," Sam chuckled. "And still alive, too. He runs Singer Auto Salvage just outside of town. You work for him, actually. It was your first job, then you skipped around some, but you decided that you were happiest working with him. Oh, and Karen's alive, I have _no_ idea why you made her dead in your dream world, but she's alive."

Dean felt like he could leap for joy. "Karen's alive?" Sam nodded in response. Then, didn't that mean that Bobby was happy? That he wasn't an alcoholic anymore? And everything was A-Okay with him?

"Then, uh, what about you?" the hunter asked. "Didn't you say you're a lawyer?"

Sam nodded. "Oh, yeah! Yeah, I went to law school, where I met Jess, and became a lawyer." He smiled, as if he liked talking about his success.

"Oh!" Dean put down the burger he was about to eat. "You met Jess!? Jess is here, too!?"

"Oh, yeah, she's still alive," Sam nodded again. "I actually, uh," He grew a nervous smile as he scratched the back of his neck. "…married… her…"

Dean's mouth hung wide open as he stared at his little brother. This world seemed to be a win-win for everyone! Bobby still had Karen and Sam was happily married to his beloved girlfriend. "Oh my- Oh my god! Sammy! That's-That's _amazing_!" Sam smiled at his older brother's words.

"Yeah…" the younger muttered.

Dean's smile dropped a little bit. "What's wrong?"

"It's just…" Sam looked around. "It's just a little weird telling you that when you had known that for years already…"

Dean's smile officially dropped as he nodded sadly. "Yeah, same. I felt the same way when I was explaining to you what _I_ thought we had done with our lives." They sat in silence for a while again, slowly eating their lunches.

"So," Dean spoke up finally through a mouth full of burger. "Am _I_ happily married?" He wagged his eyebrows up and down, meaning it as a joke, actually.

"Yeah, actually you are," Sam answered bluntly, but his answer actually made Dean almost choke to death.

"What!? I am!?"

"Yeah, to Lisa." Dean felt like the whole world had stopped, just suspended in time. He was married to Lisa? "And Ben's your son, except in reality he really _is_ your son." That's what took it. If time hadn't stopped before, it had officially after Sam said that.

"I… have a… a family?" Dean asked in a slow, quiet voice, as if he thought he might scare his newly discovered family away if he didn't ask it quite right.

"Yeah," Sam smiled at his brother. "I was gonna take you to them after this."

"What? Really!?" The older man's face lit up. "Then why aren't we going right now!?"

"Well, for one, I'm gonna finish the food I _paid for_ , and two, don't you think they'll be a _little_ surprised to see you at the door?"

"No, the hospital must have called them, right?" Dean waved his hand, shooing the idea away.

"Maybe, but they definitely didn't tell Lisa that you were coming home _today_."

The hunter stood up as he said, "Whatever, we're going."

"Wha-" Sam looked down at his salad and then back up at his brother, who was now heading outside. "Wait!" He shuffled through his wallet to put twenty dollars down on the table and then ran to catch up with his brother. "You don't even remember the way!"

* * *

Dean found himself in front of the door he thought he had left five years ago. It was the exact same house that he had shared with Lisa and Ben. He heard Sam climbing up the stairs to the porch before stopping to stand behind him. After taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door and waited for the sound of someone unlocking it.

Suddenly, the door opened to reveal a familiar face: Lisa, his former, beautiful girlfriend. At first she just stood there, watching him. But Dean couldn't help himself. He smiled at her. Tears, for some reason, threatening to fall. "Hey, Lisa…!"

The woman's face crumbled once he uttered those two words and, before he knew what was happening, they both were holding each other in a tight, warm embrace.

Dean felt so extremely relieved. He had always dreamed of having a family with her and Ben, and that had happened, but it didn't work out, like most things in Dean's life. He didn't feel like a normal family was where he truly belonged. Well, until now. Now, he felt like he didn't belong anywhere more than here, at this house, with this family: his family.

After a while, they let go of each other and Sam and Dean were invited into the house. "We got a call that you had woken up but I didn't know you were coming home _now_."

"Yeah," Sam scratched the back of his neck. "Neither did we…!"

Lisa furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Weeeell…" Sam and Dean both said in unison as they looked at each other.

"Lisa, Dean's, uh…" Sam started. "He's a bit diff-"

"Dad?" A voice suddenly interrupted Sam from up the stairs. And when the man looked to see who it was, his heart stopped. There, at the top of the stairs, was Ben. Much older, probably about fifteen or sixteen, but still Ben. And he just called him 'Dad'.

Ben ran down the stairs and embraced him tightly. Dean slowly and hesitantly returned it. Suddenly, strange visions flooded Dean's brain once he touched the teen.

* * *

 _Dean was looking down at a small baby sleeping soundly in his arms. "He's beautiful…!"_

* * *

" _Do you have to go, Dad?" a young boy asked with a sad face as Dean crouched in front of him._

" _I do, bud. But I promise I won't be gone long," the man answered._

" _You're leaving for_ four years _!" The boy pointed out._

" _Hey, that's not_ too _long!" Dean stood to his feet and ruffled the boy's hair. He then turned to his black-haired friend, who was hugging a little girl tightly, his daughter. Dean's friend said something to her that he couldn't quite make out before standing to his feet. The two men stared at each other for a while, as if debating to one another silently whether or not to stay or go. But they moved towards a large doorway anyway, and as they walked on in their cargo uniforms, Dean turned his head back to the boy to call, "Don't grow up too fast without me!"_

* * *

Dean felt Ben let go of him. He watched as the teenager wiped his eyes. Before, the hunter could stop himself, he said, "You grew up so fast in five years!"

Ben's face was that of complete and utter confusion. "What?"

"Dean, honey," Lisa started. Oh, it was weird for him to hear her say that. "You've only been in a coma for ten _months_."

Dean's face dropped, realizing what he and Sam were going to have to go through. "Yeah…" Sam began. "That's what we were gonna tell you, Lisa." Lisa looked at his brother, confused. "You two might want to sit down for this."

* * *

The air was dead silent. Sam had just told Lisa and Ben everything and now were waiting for their reaction. Lisa stood looking out the window with her forehead in her hands and Ben was staring at the floor with furrowed eyebrows.

It was one of the most awkward silences Dean and Sam had ever experienced, in any reality.

"So…" Lisa started. "You're telling me… that…" She turned around to look at them. "…that Dean doesn't remember anything about his life and thinks he _fought monsters instead_?"

Sam and Dean nodded with stoic faces.

Lisa put her hands back on her forehead with elbows in the air. After staying silent for a couple minutes, she asked, "And why…why is he _here_? Shouldn't he be getting some help or are we just gonna leave him like that?"

"Hey, crazy or not, I'm definitely not a virus you need to cure, okay?" Dean spoke up.

Sam ignored his brother and said, "No, we, uh, decided we would see if bringing him back home would help."

"How would that help!?" Lisa demanded.

"Get him back into the swing of things? See if he remembers anything?" Sam answered, making Dean suddenly think back to when he hugged Ben. Was that a flashback or something? If it was, did that mean everyone was right? That this, what he was seeing now, was reality and not what he had known of before?

"Um…" Dean heard himself start, realizing he was about to tell everyone about that little episode.

After Dean didn't continue, he heard Sam say, "What?"

The hunter looked at his brother. "Oh, it's, uh, nothing…"

"Dean…" Sam threatened.

"No, it's nothing. Really..." Dean shook his head, waiting for Sam to question him again, but his brother said nothing.

"Okay, so get back into the swing of things did you say?" Lisa then motioned towards Dean, indicating she was talking to him. "Does that mean you're gonna stay here or something?"

Dean looked around before turning his attention back to her. "Well, I was…thinking of doing that… Is that a problem?"

Lisa sighed, not wanting to kick her husband out when he had just come back to them. "No… No, I don't think it is…" Her eyes scanned over Ben, as if deciding if he was okay with it or not.

"Awesome!" Dean forced a smile onto his face. He stood to his feet, clapping his hands once. "What's for dinner? I'm starving!"

"Dean, you just had lunch," Sam reminded him.

"Oh, right." The hunter frowned a little, before hearing Ben chuckle quietly.

"I have a casserole cooking in the oven!" Lisa spoke up as the adults made their way towards the kitchen.

"Oh! That sounds great! What kind?" Dean asked.

"Chicken." Lisa turned to Sam to ask, "Are you staying for dinner, Sam?"

"That sounds great, Lisa, but I don't want to disappoint Jess," Sam answered. "She got really excited when she heard Dean had woken up, so she wanted to make something special tonight."

"Oh, I understand." Lisa nodded.

"Maybe another time, then?"

"Yeah, that sounds good!"

They had all somehow made their way back towards the door and Sam was now holding the door open for himself. He turned his attention back towards Dean, pointed at him, then said, "I'm gonna come back tomorrow morning, around twelve probably, so that you can meet and talk to more people. Maybe Bobby or Cass?"

Dean nodded with a smile. "Yeah, that'd be great!"

"Cool!" Sam gave a quick nod, said his goodbyes, and then left all three of them in silence.

Once the casserole was done, they ate in quietude, only talking a few times. Though they had so many things to talk about, none of them wanted to. It was awkward and weird for all of them. After all, they had once thought that they knew each other, they had all been a family together, but now, it seemed as if their family was a piece of paper they were trying to hold on to in a terrible gust of wind. Slowly, but surely, slipping away.


	3. The Resident of the Grandma House

_Hello! Thank you guys so much for all the support you gave for last chapter! I'd like to thank_ _Irreality_ _and sunshine102897 for their review! I'd also like to thank DearHart, Irreality, Cloggy, Ruateddybear2000, Shiroku Bara, SonicRose87, LandOfTheLivingSkys, 1, and inesmariachi for following and/or favoriting! The support and love that you guys give me makes publishing all the more worth it! Thanks! So please keep reviewing, because actually hearing what you thought of the chapter from you guys pushes me to continue. _

_Okay, so in this chapter, we get to find another main character to our story! He'll be a huge influence (as well as Sam, duh!) in the choices Dean makes along the way. I've been waiting so long to introduce him because he's actually way funnier than he is the actual show... at least sometimes. He's just a lot different. Ah! I'm spoiling things! Am I? Well, I should get to it soon though, because I might spoil more things. _

_Enjoy! :D_

 _(P.S. Does anyone know how I can put Dean's name first in the characters list on the summary? I have literally been trying for days, I guess weeks now. I find really annoying that Sam's first so it looks like he's the main character when he's clearly not. Ah, well... It might be just something we'll have to live with. _

_P.S.S. If any of you are annoyed that I'm/I've been spelling Castiel nickname like 'Cass' instead of 'Cas', is because that's how it really is spelled. Don't worry, I find it super annoying as well, but I thought it would be better that way. _

_P.S.S.S. I have now officially hit my first writer's block, so if you'd like the next chapter out soon, I'd really appreciate some suggestions for things they'd like to see next or just seen in general. For example, you can ask if you'd like to see more Dean and Ben time or something like that. But I'd like it if you'd say what you want to see next chapter. But then again, I'm perfectly fine with in general things, those help a lot as well._

 _P.S.S.S.S. Sorry I did so many P.S.'s.)_

* * *

Sam climbed the steps that lead to Dean and Lisa's porch. He walked up to the door and was about to knock on it but stopped to squeeze his eyes close, take a breath, and shake his head. Slowly and hesitantly, he finally was able to knock on it, but the minute that he tapped on the wood once, Dean came bursting through the door.

"Sammy! What took ya so long!?" Dean wore an extremely excited face as his brother tried to settle himself down from the jump-scare that was just shoved in his face.

After Sam took a breath, he looked at the hunter with a classic bitch-face on. "What do you mean? I'm here at twelve, like I promised."

"Yeah, but I've been up for hours." Dean made his way off the porch and towards the Impala, which he had parked in the driveway.

"When did you wake up?" Sam asked, making his way off the porch as well.

"Three in the morning," the hunter answered bluntly.

Sam missed the last step of the porch out of surprise and fell face first onto the pavement. Dean looked behind him to watch as his little brother crumbled a little, a groan escaping him before his head snapped up. "Since _three_!? When did you go to sleep!?"

Dean shrugged. "Twelve? One? Somewhere around there."

"What!?" Sam snapped. "You need to sleep, man!"

"Are you hurt?" the hunter asked, completely ignoring his brother.

"I-! Ugh, nevermind." Sam then shuffled to his feet.

They then jumped into the black car and drove off, with the help of Sam's directions. The drive was about fifteen minutes and when they finally stopped, they were in front of a pleasantly cute house. It looked like the person living there was just a tad richer than Dean seemed to be, based on how fancy his house was, at least. The most distinguishing characteristic about it had to be the beautiful garden in the front lawn. 'Whoever lives here must be either a _really_ peppy girl or a rich grandma,' Dean thought to himself.

"Here we are!" Sam declared as he motioned towards the Grandma House.

"Where?" Dean asked with a slightly scared and disgusted expression.

Sam chuckled, probably because he thought Dean's reaction was funny. "At, uh, _Cass'_ house."

Dean's mouth dropped open as he looked back at the beautiful garden then to his brother. They just stared at each other for a while before Dean finally replied, "Yer serious?"

Sam nodded with a smile.

The hunter looked back at the house as he imagined his friend, a badass angel, living in a Grandma House. "And we're supposed to go _in_ there?"

"Yes." Dean's brother chuckled again.

Dean sighed, opened the car door, and then muttered, "Alright, let's get this over with."

The two walked through the white fenced gate, past the beautiful flower garden, and climbed up the steps of the lovely house. Questions started to run through Dean's mind, like, why would an angel need to live in a house? Was it not a question of _need_? And why in _world_ is Cass living _here_?

Once the hunter stood on the doormat, he could suddenly hear 'The House of the Rising Sun' filtering through a window that was open slightly. Dean took a glance at Sam for him to only shrug with a shake of the head in response.

Dean then sighed as he knocked hesitantly on the white door. Suddenly, there was a familiar voice that came from inside the house. "Oh! Dammit! I-I'll be right there! Ah-!" The voice was cut off by several crashing noises and few yelps of pain. "Aw, shit! Jesus! You little fu-" More crashes and yelps acted almost as a way of beeping out the curse word. Then, after a few more curses and stumbles, the music stopped and the door opened.

Standing in the doorway was Dean's good friend, Castiel. However, strange to the hunter, he didn't wear his coat, but a blue button-up shirt and jeans. Much to Dean's surprise, as he looked at his friend a little longer, he realized that he was a lot younger than how he was supposed to be. The angel looked to be in his early to mid-thirties. Castiel stood with wide, blue eyes as he took in the man in front of him. "D-Dean…?" He finally asked.

"Hey, Cass…" Dean smiled and suddenly, just like everybody else, he was being held in a tight hug. But suddenly, just like he had had with Ben, but much more, strange visions came again.

* * *

 _Dean walked to his school, hand-in-hand with a seven-year old Sammy. They passed by an old tree that hung over the sidewalk. Once they were under it, something— or some_ one _fell, face first, in front of them._

 _Sammy screamed in shock and held onto his older brother. Dean prepared for anything, mostly a fight, though. But, the person who fell from the tree didn't seem that threatening, especially when he looked up at them to show that he was a young boy about Dean's age._

 _The boy looked a bit dazed, and maybe even a little dizzy, as he slurred out, "Sorry, I guess I'm not fit to fly, huh?"_

* * *

 _The boy from earlier stood in front of Dean's classroom as his teacher announced to the students, "Class, we have a new student today!" She looked at the quiet boy and said to him, "Introduce yourself, don't be shy."_

 _The boy looked up at the class shyly and muttered, "I'm… Castiel… Novak…"_

" _Hello, Castiel," The class greeted in a monotone voice with little interest, which seemed to make Castiel even shyer._

 _The teacher then pointed at a seat next to Dean. "Castiel, why don't you take a seat next to Dean over there?"_

 _Castiel nodded and started walking over to his new seat as the teacher told Dean, "Dean, why don't you become Castiel's buddy? Show him around a bit. Tell him about your weird, little ghost stories you love."_

 _Dean smiled brightly once Castiel took a seat. He had been interested in 'Castiel' ever since he fell from that tree. He nudged the boy and whispered to him, "Hey, we're gonna have lots 'a fun! Don't be shy! Ask me whatever you like!" His smile brightened as he finished. "Think of me like… uh… like a brother of sorts! You can tell me anything!"_

* * *

 _Dean, Cass, and Sam ran through the forest with hearts pounding as an old man chased them with a speed of someone eighty years younger than himself. Sam's preteen legs didn't take him very far before he slipped way too many times for Dean to think it was safe for his brother to be running on his own. So now Sam was red in the face as he was holding onto his brother's back with Cass having to slap him back on whenever he almost fell._

" _Dangerous enough for you?" Cass asked Dean._

" _Shut up!" the older one responded._

" _We just_ had _to ring Mr. Blackwood's doorbell, didn't we?" Cass rolled his eyes. "As if it wasn't scary enough ringing a_ grandma's _doorbell! But a ninety year old that_ still _hunts cougars for a pass-time!?"_

" _I said shut up, Cass!" Dean threatened through gritted teeth as he looked behind him to see Mr. Blackwood only about five to seven feet away from them._

 _A bullet suddenly zoomed past Cass, making him yelp out, "Holy_ shit _!"_

" _That's a bad word, Cass!" Sam warned from his brother's back._

" _Sam, do you even care in the first place?" Dean asked. Sam didn't exactly respond after that, just giving a confused face, as if_ he _didn't even know, which made Dean and Cass both chuckle to themselves before dodging bullets just in time._

* * *

Dean's eyes shot open once the visions left. 'What the hell was that?' He thought. Were those… memories that he had experienced with Cass? But Cass was a kid in one of them! Then in the next he looked like he was about fourteen or fifteen! The hunter then started to wonder how much of Cass was still… Castiel.

After a while, Castiel let go and invited them into his surprisingly fancy house, a beautiful foyer greeting them when they entered, though there were a few paintings and several pieces of furniture that had fallen on the floor. "I had no idea you were awake yet, Dean!"

"Really?" Sam furrowed his eyebrows. "They were supposed to call everyone."

"Everyone or just family?" Castiel asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Family, but-" Sam started.

"No, I'm not usually seen as your real brother," Castiel corrected.

Dean wasn't even paying attention to what the two beside him were talking about, too many questions swirled around in his head. Why did Cass have a house? Why was he talking so casually? Why was he wearing normal clothes? Because he was different apparently, but how much so? He couldn't be _that_ much different, right? After all, even though Sam, for example, had a different lifestyle, he didn't seem that different than… real Sam? Fake Sam?

Soon, Dean found himself seated in Castiel's living room, which was extremely messy, for some reason. Furniture was tipped over, some trinkets were on the floor and scattered everywhere, and there was a very expensive-looking blanket ripped up across the floor. Castiel kept apologizing to Sam for the mess, saying that their visit surprised him, which seemed to be an understatement.

"So," Castiel spoke up, looking over to Dean with a wide smile, which looked _very_ strange. "How do you feel?"

"Huh?" Dean's eyes widened.

"Are you okay," Cass clarified in a statement. "You just got out of a coma, man. I'm just wondering if you're okay."

"Oh, yeah, yeah…" The hunter nodded, thinking about what he had said. 'Man? Did he just call me 'Man'?'he thought. "I'm good, actually. Just, everything's just really confusing. So many things are different than before."

Castiel nodded, though he wore a slightly confused face. "Like what?"

Sam moved forward with a shocked face, realizing he forgot to tell his friend the most important detail: Dean's different.

"Like," Dean started before his brother could get a word in. "Why are you living in a house?"

Castiel's eyes widened, eyebrows furrowed, and his mouth moved slightly open in shock and confusion. "Wh-What?"

"Yeah, what do you need a house for, man?" Wow, did that feel weird to ask. And how extremely _rude_ it seemed, though he didn't know why. But he especially didn't understand why he kept talking.

Cass leaned back, completely baffled by the question and actually looking a bit _offended_. "E- _Excuse_ me?"

"Umm, Cass, that's something I forgot to mention-" Sam started, but was interrupted by Dean, saying something that neither of them could believe.

"Yeah, what would an angel need with a house? You're an _angel_!"

Castiel looked like Dean had just told him unicorns were real and had lived among them for thousands of years disguised as zebras living on the Himalayas. And there was just the right amount of silence for Dean to become extremely embarrassed for saying that. "I'm a…. what?"

Dean looked over at Sam for some help to only discover the same expression on his brother's face, it seemed as though he had forgotten that was part of Dean's story. "Um… an angel…? You are…right?"

There was an even longer silence than before. And the longer it continued, the more the hunter's face went as red as a tomato. Castiel's eyes flicked between the two brothers before, without taking his eyes off of them, pouring himself some tea that Dean only just noticed was there. He stared at them longer as he nodded and put some sugar cubes in his cup and murmured, "Mmm hmm…."

The silence continued still, which just continued to become very awkward for everybody except Cass, who seemed to still be accustomed to quiet. Cass sipped his tea loudly, pursed his lips, and then stated completely dead-pan, "I see you've become crazy."

"Wha-! No! No! I'm not crazy!" Dean's eyes furrowed.

"You're crazy," Sam corrected.

"I'm not! I just seem to be…confused…!" Dean nodded, liking his explanation.

There was a few more seconds of silence before Castiel said bluntly, "You just called me an angel."

"Because you are!" Dean put his hands out towards his friend, emphasizing his point.

Castiel shook his head. "No, Dean. Look, I'm flattered that you think that, but I am not an angel."

"No! That's not what I-" The hunter stopped. Everything made sense now. How could he have not seen it before? It was so obvious! The idea of his friend being nothing but a lowly human must have been too far out there for him to grasp, which is strange because Cass has been human at least two times now.

"I am a human, just like Sam, just like you." Cass continued, his voice full of firmness and determination for the man to understand.

"No… but-"

"Dean!" The _man_ in front of him had a hard expression. "I am just like you! I have no idea why you think that I'm some magical being! Angels don't even exist!"

That got him. "Whoa, wait, what!?"

"I'm a human!" Cass clarified more.

"No, not that," The hunter leaned forward. "You don't believe in angels?"

"I-…" Castiel looked at him with an annoyed face. "Since when did _you_?" Dean's breath stopped. Never in a million years could he have ever imagined that his friend, human or not, could think that angels didn't exist. Cass sighed. "If you really forgot, then… I'm agnostic."

Dean looked down at the floor as he nodded as if he was in a trance. Castiel looked at Sam, as if demanding for an answer.

Sam nodded as he pointed to the door to what looked like Castiel's kitchen. The two men then got up and went into the room, closing the door behind them. From behind the wooden door, Dean could hear Cass yelling, demanding what was wrong with his friend. Why was he not getting help? Why was he not at a physiatrist? Why was he not in an _insane_ _asylum_?

Although the hunter knew that Cass would not have wanted Dean to hear this, knowing that fact didn't make him feel any better about his situation. And although Sam never said it out loud, Dean knew that his brother believed their friend completely.

All the while, without the two men even knowing it, Dean was listening. Listening to his best friend scold his brother for not putting him in an asylum. Listening to them not believe him, not even give him a chance. Unlike all the other thousands of times, Sam and Castiel, his two… _brothers_ , were not on his side. They were trying to "help" him, but in a way that Dean could just _feel_ was wrong. It felt even worse than the feeling he had had when they were trying to get rid of the Mark of Cain. Because, it didn't feel like help, it felt like _betrayal_.

All the while, as Castiel and Sam were arguing about where to put him, which corner to stuff him in, Dean was wondering the same exact thing.


End file.
